Price$40.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryClose Up, Mentalism
Date AddedJun 04, 2024
Ultimate Brainwave Deck - Red
JT
Jia Tianshi
(Based on 2 reviews)
The effect is amazing: The spectator names any card, and its back color is different from the entire deck. Direct and clean, the effect is exactly as described.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
It's a Brainwave deck. If you are reading this you know what the effect is, but this deck allows you to fan the deck face up and see 52 different faces in a row. You then flip the deck and display the backs to be in one color (although I am not saying how many backs you can see) and then when you flip a card that was selected from the face up spread, you will see a different colored card back.While this is impressive, there are a few issues here. And, this one-trick-pony costs $40.
Effect
As state above, the spectator can pick any card that they see or just imagine. They see every single card face up and their selected card has an odd colored back from the rest of the backs that are fanned by the performer.Method
The method is mostly the same as your standard Brainwave deck, but the way the method is "applied" is a bit different. I have to admit, i like the thought behind the deck, but for reasons discussed below, I am not going to be carrying this with me.Product Quality
The video is short and good enough to explain how to do the trick.I find that when I spread the face up cards I have to do it gingerly and with some effort. It feels slightly uncomfortable because it is not natural feeling. However, a bigger problem is when I spread the cards with the backs face up sometimes it is not a successful spread and a little something can peek out and absolutely ruin the trick. I succeed most of the time, but sometimes, it just fails and for that I won't take it on the road. Also, the deck does only one trick and there are other better one-trick decks for me. I would prefer to carry an Invisible Deck, truth be told, if I had to commit to one use.
I also don't like the fact that it appears that some of the stuff seems to be rubbing off on the faces. That suggests to me that the trick will get harder to perform as more shedding happens.
A big issue is the reported smell. Jeff Stone, the owner of this illustrious website could not deal with the smell of the deck. He found the substance on the deck to be toxic and outrageously terrible. After he used the deck, he sent it to me to review. When I got the deck, it did smell, but not as bad as he complained of in his review. Oddly enough, after a few days of sitting in my "to be reviewed" desk drawer the smell totally disappeared. Not sure what exactly is the issue, but there is something odd about this deck and what they use to create it. Hopefully, it is not actually toxic!
Of course, the deck cannot be handed out. The reset takes an instant after the trick is over.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy follows:Ultimate Brainwave Deck is the ultimate solution of the 'Brainwave' plot created by JT Magic.
The effect is amazing: The spectator names any card, and its back color is different from the entire deck. Direct and clean, the effect is exactly as described.
I guess the word "ultimate" is in the eye of the deck holder so I have no real complaints about the terse ad copy.
(Top ▲)
Overview
1 gimmicked deck, 15 minutes of instruction, $40 bucks, and one Ultimate Brainwave magic review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.Effect
Brainwave. Name a card. That will be the only odd colored card in the deck.Method
This uses the same type of "technology" that a typical BW or UM deck uses. However, it's a variant of the one you're used to. This allows you to show every single face of every card. With the classic BW, you can't show all of the cards, and you can never show the faces.This so-called "ultimate" version allows you to not only see all the faces, but the deck can be shown to be all blue backs or all red backs as needed. That's the "technology" that is the method.
The last thing in the method is a particular way of handling the cards. Conceptually, the handling is easy. In practice it's quite awkward and, so far, has not been foolproof for me yet.
Product Quality
The 15 minute YouTube video is well produced and explains the technique, etc. clearly and concisely. I do feel, however, that maybe a few more minutes could have been spent on some tips on how to handle the deck. The issue I've had with the deck that you're about to read always occurred on the last few cards of the spread. I can't be the only one. If he's performed this enough times, he will have encountered this and, likely, other issues. He should have spent some time with us going over the "after doing this trick 100's of times, here are some things I've dealt with."The big PQ hit, however, is that the "technology" has an extremely strong smell that you just can't shake. It's horrifyingly strong. My deck has been back in the box for about 20 minutes or so, and I'm still breathing it in. For the love of all that is holy, if you worked in the factory that produces this deck or this "technology" make an appointment with your oncologist today.
Just this smell alone makes the entire effect 100% unusable for me. My plan was to buy this. Fool my local magi buddies, and hand it off to one of my team here at MLA for them to review. But after that smell, ain't no way I'm ever gonna perform this.
Secondly, as alluded to in the method, any attempt to show "all red" as ended with a blue or two peeking out. Same goes for vice versa except that it didn't seem as frequent, but it still happened. The problem is that the position you have to hold the deck is fairly awkward, especially if you have larger hands. I've fiddled around with a few different ways to hold the deck of my own "creation" and they were a little better, but it's way too easy for the wrong color to sneak out.
It may be the case that after hours practice I could find the knack to this, but it's beyond just acquiring a knack. It's also just that all on color display part, due to the nature of the deck, is risky. But even if a few hours practice would make this 100% perfect every time, I'll still never get there because there is no way I'm going to spend another minute, let alone a few hours, in the presence of that toxin used to make the deck. I can still, literally, taste it. I'm trying to wash it away with gallons of Diet Pepsi, but it ain't working folks.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is short, sweet, and to the point. I'll call it accurate because what is says is what the effect is. The only caveat I'll offer is that because of the nature of the above method discussion, the effect can't always be (so far for me, has never been) achieved.Final Thoughts
- Effect: Awesome!
- Method: Flawed and Stinky!
- Product Quality: Flawed and Stinky!
- Ad Copy Integrity: Accurate.
If you like the effect - I do - you'll, likely, be disappointed with your purchase. Even if none of the above peeking cards were a problem, I still am disappointed because the chemical smell makes the product unusable. With all things considered . . .
Final Verdict:
2 Stars with a Stone Status of rubble.